In the space sector, use is generally made of numerous electronic components said to be radiation-hardened, or in other words that have a failure rate due to radiation that is completely foreseeable and lower than a threshold, called acceptable threshold, which is generally ten times lower than the fault rate.
Failure rate due to radiation that is completely foreseeable is understood to mean a failure rate that is able to be proven by tests and calculations.
The cost of these components that are specifically designed to be robust or hardened to the effects of radiation is very high, and it is thus increasingly being contemplated to use COTS or ‘commercial off the shelf’ components with a significantly lower cost. These components that are not specifically designed to operate in the presence of radiation originate from pre-existing land vehicle or military applications, hence the name COTS. They are characterized by a failure rate due to radiation that is unforeseeable or greater than the acceptable threshold. Specifically, an increasingly large amount of pressure is being placed on recurring costs of space devices, and particularly for components used to implement applications implemented by constellations of satellites.
For electronic components that are present in a large number, it is therefore highly beneficial in an economic sense to use COTS components while subjecting them to an array of additional tests.
The active electronic components (allowing the power of a signal to be increased) known as COTS are not designed for the purpose of withstanding the effects of ionizing radiation, while the majority of passive electronic components known as COTS (not allowing the power of a signal to be increased) are capable of resisting high-radiation space environments.